Paris (AFP)

Prohibition of the LBD during demonstrations except in the event of "riot", use of cameras and drones, reinforcement of investigations for police violence: a parliamentary report recommends 35 measures to "restore confidence" between the population and the police.

"The maintenance of order responds to a subtle balance" between freedom to demonstrate, safety of demonstrators and protection of public order, underlines in the report the president of the commission of inquiry of the National Assembly on the maintenance of the order, the former policeman Jean-Michel Fauvergue.

However, this balance was upset with the emergence of "groups of thugs" and the mobilization of "yellow vests", which gave rise to violence by demonstrators but also to "inappropriate behavior" by the police. , "isolated and illegitimate acts" sometimes filmed and which may have shocked the public, adds the deputy LREM of Seine-et-Marne.

The 35 proposals in this report, which AFP obtained on Tuesday and which is to be adopted Wednesday in committee, aim to restore this balance, the basis of "the relationship of trust between all citizens and the police" , explains the rapporteur of the text, the PS deputy of Charente Jérôme Lambert.

Believing that this balance has long prevailed, the text recommends the prohibition in demonstration of the thrower of defense ball (LBD), except in extreme cases of "serious danger or" riot ".

The prohibition of the LBD, accused of having knocked out about twenty people during the mobilization of "yellow vests", has been demanded for several years in particular by the Defender of Rights.

Asked Tuesday morning on the subject, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin declared that a new national law enforcement plan (SNMO) adopted last September already provided for "the use of weapons such as the LBD in extremely difficult conditions. precise "," reduced "and controlled.

The report recommends rather, during "problematic demonstrations", to use the water cannons and to "resort to the technique of encirclement" (or "trap", denounced by the demonstrators) only in case of "risks. serious".

- "Illegitimate violence" -

The text also recommends that the maintenance of order be managed only by specialized units, CRS and mobile gendarmes.

In recent years, units called in as reinforcements, such as the anti-crime brigades (BAC), have been accused by demonstrators of being particularly violent.

To strengthen the "responsiveness" of the police during demonstrations, the report recommends the establishment of a "single command" and the live use of the images captured by the pedestrian cameras of the police "and by drones.

It also recommends adapting the SNMO, accused by many media of hampering press freedom, to allow journalists and observers to observe law enforcement operations through to completion.

The report especially stresses the need to eradicate the "inappropriate behavior" of the police - it avoids the term "police violence", too "systemic" according to it - by pleading in this case for the automatic designation of a investigating judge, and for the change of scenery of investigations.

"We want illegitimate violence committed within the police to be systematically investigated and prosecuted adequately," writes Mr. Fauvergue, while the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), the "police police", is regularly accused of partiality and of not or little sanctioning the police officers involved.

While it does not propose to dissolve the IGPN, the report recommends an "annual follow-up" of its investigations, as well as those of the General Inspectorate of the National Gendarmerie (IGGN), and a strengthening of disciplinary sanctions.

He is also in favor of the abolition of the supervision of the national police and gendarmerie over the IGPN and IGGN and their direct reporting to the Minister of the Interior.

He also recommends opening these two instances "to outside personnel" and authorizing their direct referral by the Defender of Rights.

"It does not seem to me that there is an antinomy between the decisions taken by the Ministry of the Interior and (the) conclusions of the report", estimated Tuesday morning Mr. Darmanin, who is preparing to launch the week next the "Beauvau of security".

© 2021 AFP